Sony last night fired its opening shot in the battle to oust Nintendo's Wii from the world's living rooms with the announcement of a new motion control system for its high-definition games console, the PlayStation 3.

The new system, called the PlayStation Move, was unveiled by Shuhei Yoshida, the President of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, on the eve of the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

The Move consists of a wireless baton equipped with a series of buttons. The movement of the baton is tracked through a camera connected to a PlayStation 3.

Mr Yoshida claimed that the system offers unprecedented accuracy of movement. "The games we can create with this system are very diverse," he said. "Tracking your body movements one to one, nothing has ever been this precise, responsive or ultra-sensory."

Motion-controlled games first grabbed public attention when Nintendo launched its Wii console in late 2006. The Wii invites players to use the controllers in simple, cartoon-like versions of games such as tennis and ten-pin bowling.

Though it relies on technology that predates both the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360, it has sold more than both of them combined, with global sales now hovering around the 70 million mark.

Key to the success of the Wii was its appeal to families. Previously, games consoles had been the near-exclusive preserve of young males. The Wii brought the console into the living room for the first time.

"Nintendo has done a great job in removing the barriers between people and games," Sony's Senior Vice President of Marketing, Peter Dille, told the audience at GDC. Now, clearly, Sony is keen to move in.

But it will not be alone. Microsoft has its own motion-control system, Project Natal, in development for the Xbox 360 console, with an expected release date of November.

Natal does away with controllers altogether, tracking the movements of a player's entire body and replicating them on screen.

Sony, however, will be first to market, and with a price tag, of just under $100 (£66), that Microsoft will be hard pushed to match since its Natal system requires an additional control box. Pricing for Natal has not yet been announced.

"The price point for us is crucial if we want to reach both serious gamers and casual players," Mr Yoshida told The Times today. "The goal from the outset was to sell it for under $100. The advance in sensor technologies has made it possible for us to get the price and superior technology. This is a 2010 system, not a 2006 system."